By Roselyn Fauth
Here you can see the passenger landing service sheds with signal station on the cliff above at Timaru - Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1691-114
I will be honest. It has sometimes been a mission to get my head around the early European beginnings of Timaru. The stories overlap, the sources do not always agree, and for every clear fact there seems to be a gremlin hiding in the footnotes. But this is my best attempt at making sense of how our port began, and to explain the tangled, ingenious logistics that shaped Timaru long before we had a breakwater or a harbour.
Along the way I have met a fascinating cast of characters. Some are well-known names in our settler histories. Others – like the Deal boatmen, Strongwork Morrison, and former whaler Samuel “Yankie Sam” Williams and his wife Ann – rarely appear in the polished summaries, but were absolutely essential to the life of the shore. They, along with Māori boatmen from Arowhenua who worked the coastline before the Deal men arrived, helped turn an exposed beach into a working landing place.
This is not just a story about the white, wealthy men whose names ended up on company headings. It is a story about everyone who raised families, laboured, navigated, hauled, traded, cooked, repaired, waited, hoped and persisted here. A story of layered community effort. Sam and Ann Williams raising the first permanent European family on the beach. Strongwork Morrison becoming the first beachmaster. The Deal boatmen pulling heavy surfboats through dangerous seas. Local women running accommodation houses and businesses. Merchants, wagon drivers, labourers, flax workers, shearers, shepherds, carpenters and cooks all contributing to a fragile but determined outpost...
In 1839 the Sydney-based Weller brothers established a short-lived whaling station at Timaru. By the time Walter Mantell made this sketch, in 1848, the station was deserted. Mantell, Walter Baldock Durrant, 1820-1895 :MotuMotu, Timaru. Oct 20 Friday 1848.. Mantell, Walter Baldock Durrant 1820-1895 :[Sketchbook, no. 2] 1848. Ref: E-333-006. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.
Together they made Timaru possible.
What emerged was a place of exchange long before it was a formal port. A hub linking the runs and kaika of South Canterbury with ships from Australia, the Pacific, Britain and beyond. A community that worked across its own social layers – Māori and Pākehā, wealthy and working-class, men and women, old hands and newcomers – to build something viable on a shoreline that often fought back.
This is the story behind the harbour we know today.
Long before harbour works were even imagined, the Rhodes brothers used the Timaru foreshore to move wool and supplies for the Levels run. This was not a port — it was simply a stoney beach.
Views of today, from the site where the 1851 Rhodes cottage was at the foot of George Street, and corner of Turnbull St. - Photography By Roselyn Fauth
Former whaler Samuel “Yankie Sam” Williams and his wife Ann were central to this early activity. They moved into the Rhodes’ 1851 cottage with their daughter Rebecca, becoming the first permanent European family in Timaru. In 1856 they welcomed their son William — the first recorded European baby born in Timaru.
1868 photograph of the foot of George Street, Timaru, shows the Rhodes cottage built in 1851 by George Rhodes and his employees near the landing site for ships. The site had once been an abandoned whaling station, used to land stores and ship wool, and at the time it was the only habitation between Lake Ellesmere and the Waitaki River. The cottage was a simple 20-foot hut with battened sides, clay-plastered walls, and a thatched tussock roof. Its steeply pitched roof was designed to shed rain and snow, and it sat on the beach backed against the coastal escarpment — a practical spot close to the landing service rather than a scenic one. By 1857, Archdeacon Harper recorded being warmly received there by Samuel Williams, his wife Ann, and their son. The couple had converted the cottage into a general store and informal inn, providing supplies and shelter to travellers. This was the beginning of Sam’s role as hotelkeeper and community host, and he was listed as a storekeeper and householder (No. 57) on Timaru’s first electoral roll in 1858.
Sam’s knowledge of the coastline, shaped by years of working in southern waters, made him invaluable. Ann held their family and community together on a wild shoreline that had yet to become a town. It is hard to imagine what the view was like at thier front door. They were the only ones living there, meters from the rolling surf at the very early stages of the European city we know today.
Government landing terrace at Timaru, 1860s. Shows buildings by the waterfront. Photographer unidentified. - https://tiaki.natlib.govt.nz/#details=ecatalogue.366331
Le Cren, Captain Cain and the Arrival of the Deal Boatmen
As the coastal trade expanded, Henry John Le Cren sent Captain Henry Cain to organise the landing operations in 1858. This was Timaru’s first formal landing service.
In 1859 the first wave of immigrants to sail direct from the UK arrived in Timaru. 110 put down roots here, establishing the homes and comerial hub needed for the early town.
At the request of the Rhodes, Six experienced surfmen from Deal, England, arrived. They were trained in heavy seas and rescue work and soon became indispensable. Among them was Strong Work (Strongwork) Morrison, who rose quickly to become Timaru’s first beachmaster. He directed surfboats, coordinated landings, and brought expert discipline to a chaotic and often tricky shoreline.
It is also important to remember that Māori boatmen from Arowhenua worked this coast before the Deal men arrived, especially in the earlier 1850s. Their presence shaped Timaru’s first maritime rhythms. This shore was a shared space, layered with different knowledge systems and types of labour.
When the Government Took Over (And Things Got Complicated)
By the mid-1860s, the landing service at the foot of Strathallan Street, was so essential that the Provincial Government took control of it in 1866. They rebuilt the sheds and hired staff, but the public system struggled. Delays crept in. Regulations frustrated merchants. Costs rose. The beach kept working — but the people using it grew increasingly frustrated.
Local businessmen decided to set up a competitive service at the foot of George Street, known as the The Timaru Landing and Shipping Company (1867)**
In response, a group of local businessmen formed the Timaru Landing and Shipping Company in 1867. Their goal was to run an efficient, localised service. Their first attempt — offering £10 to lease the Government Landing Service — was rejected. So they set up their own landing operation in 1868 at the foot of George Street.
This early George Street service was still 100 percent beach-based: surfboats on the sand, fixed launching ways, and a few modest sheds. No grand buildings. No arches. Just people and boats.
It is helpful to note that there is a bit of myth that got out that the The Landing Service Building Was Not the Landing Service. In 1870, Peter McRae (owner of the Club Hotel) built the first bay of what is now known as the Landing Service Building. This was: a two storey warehouse built of bluestone with large arched entrances. however I am not sure it was ever used for boats to be hauled into the building for unloading. The true landing service always took place on the beach, in the surf, using boats, ropes and human strength. This misunderstanding has persisted for generations, but the distinction matters. The Landing Service Building was a product of logistical evolution — not the origin of it.
As the breakwater construction began in 1878, shingle piled up on the south side, pushing the waterline further out. By 1880, landing gear had to be moved across the railway line just to reach the surf. By 1881, both private landing services had closed. The coastline had shifted too far. Only the Government Landing Service (now under the Harbour Board) continued until 1886, when the artificial harbour finally made surf landings obsolete.
Elizabeth Wood married George Rhodes on the 31 May 1854 at Lyttelton. A few weeks after their wedding the couple headed south, enduring many hardships as they crossed the plains to George's station 'The Levels'. George died in 1864 and in 1867 the widowed Elizabeth remarried local lawyer Arthur Perry. Elizabeth passed away in 1890.
The Day I Met Richard Turnbull (At the Cemetery)
Somewhere in my research wanderings, I found myself standing in front of Richard Turnbull’s monument at the Timaru Cemetery — a tall, formal Victorian memorial that seemed determined to be noticed.
I remember asking myself: Who was this man that his community chose to remember him like this? That moment sent me digging deeper. I read Richard Turnbull: A Timaru Pioneer by Philip Turnbull — not once, but several times back-to-back — because I wanted to understand the man behind the stone, and why his story mattered so deeply to Timaru.
What I discovered is that Turnbull wasn’t just a merchant. He was a connector — someone who understood how logistics, trade and politics intersected. His involvement in the Timaru Landing and Shipping Company helped drive the George Street operation during years when our foreshore was the region’s lifeline.
He pushed for better infrastructure, advocated for harbour improvements and played a significant role in shaping Timaru’s growing commercial reputation. Through Turnbull’s story, I began to see how individuals — not just buildings or dates — shaped Timaru’s built heritage and economic identity.
His monument suddenly made sense.
George St and Stafford St Intersection ca1871 -1878. South Canterbury Museum
Why These Stories Matter
As I trace these histories — Māori boatmen from Arowhenua, former whalers like Sam Williams, Deal surfmen like Strongwork Morrison, merchants like Le Cren, Cain, Russell and Turnbull — I see how Timaru was never shaped by one type of person. It was built through shared effort, across communities and cultures, through risk-taking and experimentation, through people who believed a surf beach could become something more.
And somehow, it did.
A landing place.
A trading hub.
A port city connected with the world when the sea was our colonial highway.
A photo os the Old Landing Service Building around 1983. South Canterbury Museum - Catalogue Number2014/008.010
Timeline: The Making of Timaru’s First Port
1840s–1850s: Before the Port
1840s–early 1850s
• Māori boatmen from Arowhenua operate whaleboats along the South Canterbury coast, long before European surfboats arrive.
• The beach at Timaru is used informally as a landing place by passing vessels.
1851
• The Rhodes brothers build a small cottage near the shoreline.
• Former whaler Samuel “Yankie Sam” Williams, his wife Ann, and daughter Rebecca move in shortly after, becoming Timaru’s first permanent European family.
1856
• William Williams, son of Sam and Ann, becomes the first recorded European baby born in Timaru.
1858–1865: The First Landing Service
1858
• Henry John Le Cren sends Captain Henry Cain to establish Timaru’s first organised landing service on the open beach.
1859
• Six lifeboatmen from Deal, England — including Strong Work (Strongwork) Morrison — arrive.
• Morrison soon becomes Timaru’s first beachmaster, directing surfboat operations.
1863
• Three Deal boatmen die attempting to rescue the crew of the brig Comet at Patiti Point — a reminder of the dangers of the surf.
1864–1866
• After public pressure, the Provincial Government purchases and then formally takes over the landing service (1866).
• Growing delays and bureaucracy frustrate local merchants.
Timeline: Clarkson & Turnbull and the Early Timaru Port
Early 1860s
• Clarkson & Turnbull, merchants Richard Turnbull and Thomas Clarkson, open their wooden corner store near the shoreline — close to the early surfboat landing place.
• Their store becomes an essential link between inland settlers and coastal shipping.
1867
• Clarkson & Turnbull become the first business to export flour from Timaru to London, proving the town’s commercial potential.
• Richard Turnbull, together with Henry Le Cren, G. G. Russell and Captain Henry Cain, help form a new landing service to improve cargo handling and compete with the Government-run system.
1868
• The first cargo is landed by this new landing service on the beach at the foot of George Street, on the site where the Landing Service Building will later stand.
• At this point, the operation is entirely beach-based — surfboats, ropes, launching ways and modest sheds.
1869–1881: The George Street Era
1869
• The Timaru Landing and Shipping Company acquires Section 10, beside their George Street landing place.
1870
• Club Hotel owner Peter McRae begins building the first bay of the Landing Service Building on Section 10.
• This is a warehouse, not the landing service itself.
1870–1876
• McRae adds two more bays, creating the three-bay bluestone structure we know today.
1878–1881
• Construction of the breakwater causes shingle to accumulate, pushing the sea further out.
• Landing gear must be dragged over the new railway line to reach the surf.
• 1881: Both private landing services close — the coastline has simply moved too far.
1881–1886: The End of Surf Landings
1879–1886
• The Government Landing Service continues under the new Timaru Harbour Board.
• 1886: The artificial harbour becomes operational, finally replacing surf landings altogether.
1886–1980s: The Warehouse Lives On
1880s–1980s
• The Landing Service Building is used as a warehouse by the New Zealand Loan & Mercantile Agency, later Dalgety’s.
• It remains a backbone of Timaru’s commercial district for over a century.
1984–1989
• Threatened with demolition, the building is saved by community advocacy.
• The newly formed Timaru Civic Trust negotiates its preservation.
• The Council gifts the building to the Trust, securing its future.
The Club Hotels neighbourhood in 1874. The Williams Cottage is gone the Timaru Landing Service Building we know today is called Cains Landing Service. Over the Road from the Club Hotel is Gabities Corner, now the Oxford, The Post Office and Timaru Herald and the Criterion Hotel. On the adjacent corner was The Bank of New Zealand.
The original 1851 Rhodes cottage remained until around 1873, after which it was demolished and the site cleared. Despite its rudimentary construction, it stood for over two decades and played a key role in early Timaru’s settlement, economy, and hospitality. Two further bays had been added to the Timaru Landing Services building. Timaru's population would have been around 1000 at that time.
Timaru Landing Services Building has a plaque on the wall for the first European House in Timaru. Samuel Williams lived there with his family.
- 1843: George Rhodes arrived from England to manage a cattle station and operated a whaling station.
- 1851: George and Robert Rhodes, with some shepherds, set out to establish their Banks Peninsula runs, crossing the Rakaia River.
- 1851: They wrote to the Colonial Secretary, announcing they had taken possession of a run near Timaru, between the Rivers Opihi and Waihi.
- Homestead: Built a cob house in South Canterbury, the only dwelling between the Waitaki River and Lake Ellesmere, becoming a central station.
- Alfred Hornbrook: In 1853, Alfred Hornbrook arrived in Timaru to manage a station at Horauana, inland by the hills.
- 1854: Alfred Cox bought two licences for runs, shipping sheep and cattle to Lyttelton, then camping at Mount Four Peaks.
- 1854: Studholme arrived at Te Waimate Station, seeking an agreement with Chief Uru Uru, marking the establishment of a run from the sea to the Hook.
- Otain Station: Established by Annie Collier and others, stretching from the Hack to the Otaio rivers and from the sea to Hakeforamea Valley.
- Pareora Station: Developed by Warris and Innes, running from the Hunter Hills to the Pareora and Otaio rivers.
- Raincliff Station: Located between the Onihi and Opua rivers, spanning 30,000 acres.
- Charles G. Tripp: In 1855, Tripp moved to the Mackenzie country, discovering new areas for sheep and cattle runs, including the shores of Lake Pukaki and Lake Tekapo.
- Mt. Peel Station: Tripp and his friend started Mt. Peel station, seen from Christchurch by their fires.
- Mesopotamia Station: Samuel Butler consolidated holdings into this station, becoming a notable literary figure while living there.
- Mackenzie Country: In 1864, Andrew Burnett and others founded stations in the Mackenzie Plains.
- Mount Cook: In a spur of the moment decision, McRae named a station "Mount Cook" after applying for it in Christchurch.
Timaru's First Landing Service / Timaru Branch Today (25 Nov 1964). Aoraki Heritage Collection, accessed 14/11/2025, https://aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/452
Timaruvian, Where Was LeCren's Landing Service Located? (Dec 1955). Aoraki Heritage Collection, accessed 14/11/2025, https://aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/6836
D E Drake, A merchantile company on early Timaru scene (25 Oct 1987). Aoraki Heritage Collection, accessed 14/11/2025, https://aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/456